The University of Oregon (or "the UO") is an Oregonpublicuniversity chartered in 1872.[2] The school is located in Eugene, Oregon, two hours away from Portland.[3] It ranked #112 in US News's 2008 "National Universities: Top Schools" list.[4]

Athletics

Oregon has 9 women's and 8 men's sports teams.[1] The historically most important program to the university has been track and field. Under Bill Bowerman, they won several national championships and produced several olympians as well as some of the best American milers and distance runners including the legendary Steve Prefontaine. An interesting side note: Bill Bowerman and one of his former runners, Phil Knight, collaborated to form Nike, one of America's largest athletics corporations.[5] Of further historical note is Hayward field, the U of O track. Hayward field has hosted nine USATF championships and five Olympic trials. Hayward field is slated to host the 2016 US Olympic Track and Field Team trials.[6] In the last ten years, the U of O track program has produced several of the worlds best athletes, some of whom include Andrew Wheating, Galen Rupp (won silver in the 2012 Olympic 10k), Ashton Eaton (won gold at the 2012 London olympics and is current world record holder in the decathlon), and Jordan Hasay. [7][8] More recently the Ducks' Football program has become a powerhouse, particularly since 2007 when Chip Kelly became the Offensive Coordinator.[9] After Kelly became head coach in 2009, the Ducks proceeded to go to four straight BCS bowls, winning the PAC-12 title three times in a row. Notably, in 2010 (Kelly's second year as head coach) they went undefeated in the regular season and played Auburn in the BCS national championship.[10][11] The men's basketball program won the first national championship in 1939.[12]